Improvement in wheels for vehicles



UNITED STATES PATENT CEEIGE.`

WILLIAM CORRIS, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT mwHEELs FoR vEHlcLEs.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 165,21 l, dated July d, 1875; application filed Aprn 21, 1874.

To all whom It may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM Goimrs, of the city of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Oarriage-Hubs; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same.

This improvement belongs to that class of' wooden hubs in which a circumferential groove is turned in the hub, and the spokes are titted therein and held by side flanges secured i to the hub. The invention consists in enlarging the ends of the spokes and providing them with inclined shoulders, and combining there` with lian ges of an approximate form, provided with concentric corrugations on the inner face, the whole arrangement lbeing such that` a broader bearing of the spokes in the groove is obtained, thereby preventing splitting. or cracking at the sides of the groove; and the said spokes are locked Vand held firmlydown to the hub, all as hereinafter described.

In the drawings, Figure l is an end view. Fig. 2 is an elevation of one of the flanges. lFig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section of the A is the wooden hub, which is turned with a circumferential groove, a, which may be either vertical, as at the top, or dovetailed, as at the bottom, as shown in Fig. 3. `This groove is made much wider in cross-section than in other hubs, inorder to secure the broad bearing of the spokes, as'will presently be described. B B are the spokes, of usual form, except at the tenon ends. These ends b b are made much wider than the ends of other spokes in order to fit the groove above described. They are of' a form to fill the groove, whether straight or dovetailed. From the surface of the hub upward they are made angular, as shown at b1 bl; and at the top they are provided with angular shoulders b2 b2, which may approximate a right angle. The height of .the enlargement of the spokes is such as to be covered by the tlanges, thus presenting, above the flanges, the usual size of the spokes from hub to rim. G C are the flanges, which are slipped upon the hub and bolted together to hold the spokes, .as usual.

angular shoulders b2.

shown in Fig/s. 2 (and 3. By making the v groove and spokes enlarged, as described, a

more permanent and solid bearing ris made with the hub. spokes in place, while the shoulder b2 c2 lock the spokes down to the hub. The tighter the flanges are drawn up by their bolts the more firmly the tenons are forced down in the groove by the bearing of the part c2 upon the The spokes can therefore be so pressed into place and held by the embracing-iianges that but little lateral strain can come upon the edges of the hub at the groove.

In ordinary hubs of' this kind the spokes are so narrow and the walls of the flanges so upright that the lateral strain of the spokes splits and slivers the wood around the groove, and frequently works loose. I obviate this difficulty by the broad bearing of the spokes,

and by the locking or embracing of the lianges' above described. In additionto the above, the'corrugations d d bite into and hold the spokes, and since Athey extend all the way around the flanges can be applied indifferently in any position. My invention is specially intended for wooden and not metallic hubs.

It will be evident that, by constructing the spokes with shoulders, over which the periph- Y eral flanges on the clamping-flanges overlap, thespokes are securely conned in place and effectually prevented from displacement, which is not the case where similar clamping-flanges, having ribs or screw-threads fitting against the spokes and indenting the same, but not provided with the peripheral flanges for overlapping the shoulders on the spokes, are employed as heretofore.

I am aware that the spokes have before been fitted in a circumferential groove and held by side flanges. I am also aware that metallic hubs have been used withenlarged spokes fitting between inclined clampingheads. Such features I do not claim.

The inclines b1 and c1 hold the What'J I claim is In Witnesswhercof I have hereunto signed The enlarged inclined angular end b of the my name in the presence of two subscribing spokes, having the shoulders b2 b2, in combi- Witnesses. nation with the flanges C C, having,` the in- 1 @lined angular inner surfaces 01 c1 and shoul- WILLIAM (JORRLS' ders o2 c2, overlapping the shoulders on the Witnesses:

spokes, and all constructed substantially as R. F. OsGOOD, shown and described. E. B. SCOTT. 

